“If only you were like a brother. Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you and no one would despise me.” In ancient Israel, public kissing between men and women, even husband and wife, was forbidden and despised. The only exception was between blood-relatives such as brother and sister. Earlier in our Song, her cry was, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” As we learned earlier, it meant that her heart’s cry was to be brought into intimate fellowship and union with the Lord. Now, her heart’s cry is for a greater public declaration of her love, because the world’s unrenewed mind makes this difficult. During her development, she has known the pain of being despised. She can never forget that although her inward life has been illuminated by the Sun of his glorious presence, she has never been promised anything but suffering, tribulation, and rejection in the world that rejected him. Jesus made no secret of this to his disciples, but said, “Blessed are you when men hate you when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22).